stitch in the ditch, yes or no and why or how to decide?
 

Do you stitch in the ditch on every quilt? If so why? If not why? I haven't been doing so but then realized several post online talk about it and do.... I've made 5-6 quilts... now wondering..

i stitch in the ditch a lot - because i do not know how to do fmq - and i did not get many artistic genes.

i like the look of stitch in the ditch- and i do it well. i usually add some additional straight stitch quilting.

I'm interested in reading the replies to this thread.

I'm new to quilting and haven't SITD on any of my quilts. Two I did a grid pattern and two more I did a soft curve using my walking foot. I liked that a lot! I've washed all the quilts afterwards and all looks great. I'm not really sure or understanding why one should SITD

I did make a table runner that I didn't want a quilt pattern running thru (did I even explain that correctly?) so I did SITD the runner. Came out nice.

SITD looks very nice but I also love straight stitching about a quarter inch from each seam. It looks so old fashioned that way. I've never seen wrong or ugly quilting btw.

I found SITD to be very difficult for me to do well. I usually stitch 1/4 inch from seam lines because that is easier for me and looks cleaner.

I don't think you can categorically say that will happen.
A lot of quilts are FMQd allover-edge-to-edge, and yet ... the sashing stays true and straight.

Yes it can get distorted. But not always.

A lot depends on how the sandwich is made and how the quilter "stresses" the sandwich while FMQing.

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Originally Posted by Janinem (Post 8184601)

Do you stitch in the ditch on every quilt? If so why? If not why? I haven't been doing so but then realized several post online talk about it and do.... I've made 5-6 quilts... now wondering..

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Welcome to the QB, JanineM!

It's really a lot of personal preference in the look you want, and what works best for you.
For some, SITD is one of the hardest, as it can be tough to stay "in" the ditch.
For others, easy-peasy!

There is a technique the encourages SITD ESS (every stinking seam!) ... and then FMQing overtop.
Some like it, but for me, that is just way too much. Almost overkill!
Of course, than applies differently according to the patteren/design ... large? or small pieces?

If no-SITD is working for you ... then motor on with your own style!

i tend to agree with you. I rarely stitch in the ditch. I have a ditch foot. I have a walking foot. I don’t like using either one. If I must do it I use my FMQ foot and get better results. Or a ruler foot and ruler. Also I haven’t had distorted sashings. Maybe because I glue baste? I guess we all have to experiment and decide what works best for us.

SITD is largely based on personal preference. When Harriett Hargrave wrote her first edition of Heirloom machine quilting she recommended SITD as a way of stabilizing the entire quilt then going back to do the fun FMQ detail after the entire quilt had been stabilized by ditching. This was the recommendation for DSM quilting when the machine is not mounted to any sort of rack. With the advent of spray basting and glue basting the SITD step is not always necessary. If the quilt is entered in a large national show the judges do take SITD into consideration and will almost always award more points to a quilt that is ditched. Obviously this does not apply to quilts that have an all over E2E design.
Ditching does help to emphasize pieced blocks but that can be two edged sword. In some cases the ditching can sometimes hide less than perfect points but other times it can emphasize a shortcoming in the piecing. It can cause issues for quilt tops when seams are pressed open instead of to one side. In those cases there really is no ditch and often you are quilting over your piecing threads and may or may not compromise the quilts construction but if it is quilted sufficiently in other places it shouldn't have any detrimental effect. I do know of some LAQ that prefer to get the tops with seams not pressed open. Both Judi Madsen and Margaret Solomon Gunn have had blog postings about it and the possible negative side effects (pressed open seams).
In most cases I do prefer to ditch but not every single seam. As I stated above, it is largely personal preference for most people. When I hand quilted I never ditched but quilted 1/4"on either side of seams. When I quilted on my domestic I was out of the ditch more than in so avoided it. But once I got my LA I definitely ditch most of my own quilts and client quilts when budget allows or if I know the quilt will go into a show.

I mostly do FMQ and haven't notice any distorted sashes. I usually try to FMQ close to the seam for the sashes.

Seldom do SITD, when I do I sew about a 1/4" from the seams.

Welcome to this quilt board.

I try to stay out of the ditch on purpose. I prefer to stitch beside the ditch. It's more of a topstitch look instead of trying to hide the stitches in the ditch. By topstitching, I can waver a little bit without obvious mistakes. I can't stand trying to stay in the ditch and wavering out every now and then.

Think it's just personal preference, being visually impaired SITD is almost impossible for me, I've tried, was awful lol. Thank goodness there are other ways haha. Just relax and enjoy yourself, to me that's the most important.

Thanks everyone! I was thinking it was necessary and I wasn't doing it, good to know it's just a preference.

When I quilt on my domestic, sit-down machine, I will SITD with my walking foot, to stabilize the quilt before FMQ. It's harder to SITD on a longarm. But I do occasionally on a border or sashing.

I like the stabilizing effect of stitching in the ditch. I also do, and love, the look of echo stitching. I do a lot of applique quilting and often do cross hatching, or lines radiating out from center. Quilting on a quilt is a different process for everyone. I'll never be a long-armer, and admire that talent, but am happy with how my quilts turn out.

I never have because I like my stitches to show. However I saw a Log Cabin at a show once and it was terrific done in the ditch.

I never do

When you stitch on either side of the seams have you pressed your seams open? I do ditch in the ditch but have not tried the double stitching because I thought it might make a bump.(hope I explained that right!)

As always, feline fanatic has given an in-depth response with great explanations. As a Judge, I do not count against a quilt that does not have ditching. When the quilt has been stitched in the ditch, I am looking to see if the threads are IN the ditch and not all over the place.

I don't SITD on every quilt. I quilt on a longarm, but I don't mind ditch stitching on it. Sometimes I do SITD, usually because I want to stabilize the quilt so that I can roll it back and forth easily while working on various areas. Sometimes I don't want to SITD because I don't want those stitches showing up on the back and messing up the quilting design.

I SITD and echo on most of my quilts. I've done some fm but not yet comfortable with it. I'm a piecer and like to showcase the pieces. This seems to work for me with my scrappy quilting. I use my embroidery machine to do some quilting but not most of the time. The rehooping is not a favorite thing for me to do when quilting.

I rarely SITD, but then I mostly press my seams open and ditching does not work well when seams are pressed open. When I do ditch quilt, it is usually only because I WANT to emphasize the lines of a particular design element, sash or border. I will do it with a walking foot before doing any FMQ. I think it's a personal choice, depending on the design, the combination of fabric & batting you are using, and the amount of quilting you plan to do.

I like to do all over/edge to edge close quilting, either straight line or spiral and usually as close as 1/2" apart. I will, when I do paper pieced works prefer not to do close quilting...I would rather my quilting be more subtle and in that instance I stitch right alongside the seam. I'm sort of lucky....my walking foot sits a bit crooked so my needle is not centred but rather is right alongside the "left tong" so to speak. This means that if I line the "tong" up right on top of my seam my needle then stitches beautifully a hairs width alongside the seam. I like the look. BTW, don't get me started on the saga of my Juki walking foot...suffice to say I'm making lemonade out of lemons!!!!!

I quilt on a DSM. I always STID around the blocks, sashings and borders to stabilize my quilt. After examining the back to be sure that all is straight, I go back and quilt each unit. It saves a lot of twisting and turning because I can concentrate on one smaller area at a time. I have a large level working space and use the 'puddle' method. I have good success.

This is also what I do to most of my quilts. I am not good at SITD.

I have found that I do a better job of staying in the ditch if I’m FMQ rather than trying to use walking foot or stitch in the ditch foot. For some reason I’m also more likely to stay in the ditch without using ruler than with, even though I have a good ruler foot, rulers that ought to help and lots of experience using them...go figure

Rob

I quilt on a long arm and will SID some parts of almost every quilt (I rarely do pantos) even with edge 2 edge I will usually SID borders, etc. to stabilize it. Each quilt seems to dictate whether SID is called for--sometime I will because I know I'll be rolling it back and forth to change thread colors, or because it needs stablizing around the blocks so I can FMQ the actual block. One place I rarely will SID is with 8 point stars or similar, since many people will press open the seams on stars that have multiple points and I don't want to jeopardize those seams. I prefer to use SID to stabilize a quilt than doing basting on one. SID definitely will emphasize that seam nicely--Judy Madsen (Green Fairy Quilts) suggests you SID every single piece!

On larger quilts I do a couple of rows of SITD both vertically & horizontally because I don't have a LA and none of my machines have a large throat space to work in. The quilt gets moved around more due to the smaller space to work with.


I also do QAYG by Column. The only thing I do different is I make my entire back as one piece, and leave a good 1/2" from the edge to have plenty of space to sew the next column of blocks on. She does a lot of talking in the beginning, but hang in there and see if it might work for you too. Check out this gal. Candy Glendening and she has 4 videos on this method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_b9WjeP0mU&t=9s